Yes, I'm a night owl. I have been since I was a teenager. I work a job that requires me to toil at night, and I find that it suits me. I am most unpleasant in the morning (the few mornings that I see), but when 9 p.m. hits, the switch is on. Let's go, let's party.
Now add the fact that I am an East Coast guy who is a fan of a West Coast team. After years of living through, "San Francisco at Los Angeles (n.)" in the newspaper, I fully appreciate being able to find the score of the Dodger game with a few simple key strokes. Waiting until 2 a.m. is no price to pay at all. Hell, I'm up already anyway.
But that's only half of it. The other half is I've always enjoyed the night time more than the day. I love it when the fall weather hits and daylight savings time ends and the street lights are on at 5:30 in the afternoon. As a kid, I remember taking five-hour trips to my grandmother's after my dad got off of work and marveling at the lights along the darkened route. I love neon, I love midnight snacks, I love 1971 Topps (that Cookie Rojas card is awesome). Even 1986 Topps isn't too bad either (except for all the blurry photos).
As any kid finds out going to his first night game, night time makes the game more than a game. It becomes an EVENT. That's why I like collecting cards that feature photos taken at night. There aren't a lot of them, and most of them are like this:
So-called "night cards" will be a recurring theme of this blog. Call them cards that will never see the light of day.
Here is one of my favorites:
Now THAT is a great card: Campy kicking up dust, lights glowing in the background, illuminating his day-glo (night-glo?) gold jersey. Millan's glove outstretched, ump in mid-safe! pose. Nice work, Topps.
Here is one of my favorites:
Comments
As far as baseball goes, I always have preferred the night games. There's something awesome about stadium lights illuminating the field.